Back-to-school preview: What's new in area schools?

Published 8:50 pm, Saturday, August 27, 2011

STRATFORD

In Stratford, the public school district is revving up for the 2011-2012 academic year with a new homework policy.

Last updated in the 1970s, the policy now charts the amount of time students can expect to spend on homework at night at each grade level, such as 15 minutes in first grade, an hour in sixth grade and two hours in high school. The policy defines acceptable excuses for late or missed assignments, outlines a universal grading policy and lists resources for homework help.

"Over the years there have been a lot of complaints about the amount of homework or homework given over vacations or on weekends," said Acting Superintendent Irene Cornish. "This provides parents and students with our expectations."

Cornish said the district has 31 new teachers, and several new principals and administrators. The teachers were hired after 28 retired under an early incentive program at the end of the last school year. New principals have been appointed at Second Hill Lane, Chapel Street, Lordship, Wilcoxson and Stratford Academy/Johnson House schools.

Also new this year is the expansion of the elementary-level foreign language program into fifth grade.

BRIDGEPORT

Bridgeport Public Schools has a new school board, hand-picked by Acting Commissioner of Education George Coleman, which has promised to find $9.5 million worth of savings by October to balance the budget. The board also pledged to put the district on a path of improved student achievement.

Because of budget cuts, the district has had to increase class sizes in most grade levels and has cut a number of business and technology programs in the high school.

All high school students in the district this year must adhere to a new dress code: khaki pants, and colored shirts in colors related to their high school.

The district is also continuing a school renovation plan. Wilbur Cross students are to spend most of the 2011-12 school year in the district swing space school while it undergoes repairs. By the late spring, it will be Roosevelt's turn. Roosevelt School, which is receiving about $800,000 a year in federal School Improvement Grant funds, has a new interim principal. Half the teachers are new to the school, which will have a new arts theme.

TRUMBULL

Ongoing Trumbull High School renovations will be half completed by the time school opens on Aug. 30, Superintendent Ralph Iassogna said. Construction crews worked continuously over the summer to make sure the gymnasium, student commons, kitchen and housing offices would be ready by the time students return to school. Those areas will have upgraded HVAC systems. The gymnasium will have new floors and new locker rooms and the kitchens will now conform to updated building codes. All the renovations should be complete in about a year-and-a-half, Iassogna said.

This year, the district will also renew its emphasis on preventing bullying, Iassogna said. Last year, the focus was on educating teachers and staff. This year, students will be brought into the dialogue. Each school will be forming climate committees, as required by a new state bullying law, which will assess whether the schools as a whole are preventing or permitting a culture of bullying.

Also this year, the board of education will begin planning for full-day kindergarten. The board accepted the recommendations of a committee that suggested full-day kindergarten be implemented in the district in 2013.

"Once the board recommits in September, we'll start getting ready for that," Iassogna said. "We have to put together the rooms, the curriculum, the time schedules and transportation."

The district will also have a new pupil personnel services administrator: Michael McGrath.

MONROE

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy will open at the start of the school year in a wing of Masuk High School in Monroe. About 220 sixth, seventh and eighth graders from Jockey Hollow Middle School will participate in the program during its inaugural year.

"There aren't too many true STEM programs in the state," interim superintendant John Goetz said. But "there's a national move in this direction to increase students' abilities in science and math."

The STEM Academy will have two classes of eighth-graders, three classes of seventh-graders, and five classes of sixth-graders, Goetz said. Administrators are watching how the first semester goes before planning for future, he said. There is talk of eventual expansion, but that could go in many directions, Goetz said. The STEM Academy could become more of a magnet program.

"It's really an issue for the next superintendent," Goetz said.

The board of education is planning that Monroe will have a new superintendent in place around January.

Every classroom in Monroe will have SMARTBoards this year, but because of delays in manufacturing, some classrooms may not get their boards until October.

On Oct. 1. Chalk Hill School will officially be handed over to the town. The board of education voted to shutter the school last fiscal year to save money and has already moved most of its property out of the building, Goetz said. The district will retain use of the athletic fields behind the building.

The new wing at Joseph A. Foran High, which was partially opened late last spring, will be in full use for the 2011-12 school year. Harborside Middle School was flooded during the heavy rains on Aug. 14, and maintenance employees are assessing the damage and working to clean it all up before students return.

Superintendent Elizabeth Feser, who begins her first full academic year at the helm, said middle school and high school students will be assigned advisors, adults who will meet with them in small groups. "This is not a formal counseling program or mentoring, but it is something that we feel will be beneficial to both students and teachers. The staff members who will be involved have all been trained, and the program will be launched in September.''

Enrollment in Milford's public schools is down by 100 more students than officials anticipated when the 2011-12 budget was being formulated last spring. Fourteen new teachers have been hired to replace those who retired, and there are openings for a Spanish teacher and a social studies teacher at the high school level, and for a social worker, personnel director Wendy Kopazna said.

Students at the three middle schools will be able to take Spanish I for high school credit, the first step, Feser said, toward increasing the number of credits that will be required for a high school diploma.

SEYMOUR

Work on the $32.5 million expansion of Chatfield School continues. Students will start classes in the old building then move into the new wing in November, said Don Smith, co-chairman of the building committee.

Residents approved the project at an October 2008 referendum, which in part calls for construction of an 86,000-square-foot, two-story addition with 37 new classrooms; expanded gymnasium and media center and new roof and windows. Students from Anna LoPresti are slated to be relocated to the newly-renovated building in September 2012.

Smith said a lot of work was completed over the summer including the installation of new windows in the old building and a permanent bus loop and teacher and parent parking areas. "Right now we are about 50 percent complete and the budget is still in great shape."

The only "hiccup" is that the fire marshal has ordered a fire watch at the school because a sprinkler system isn't up and running, he said. The system is needed because the new windows in the old building can't be opened. "The best way to solve that problem is with a fire watch," he said, adding a firefighter will be stationed at the school while it's in session.

"That most likely will be the case all school year," he added.

DERBY

There's a new principal at Derby High School. The board of education in July named Gregory Gaillard to that post, replacing Francis Thompson, who left to become Jonathan Law's principal. Gaillard, 33, a Naugatuck resident, has worked at the high school for four years.

He played a key role under Thompson in putting the high school on the right track after a streak of administrative instability and student discipline problems.

Shelton will be offering a new elementary science curriculum called "Engineering is Elementary" for students in grades one through four, according to Superintendent Freeman Burr. He said the new offering will not replace the existing science curriculum, but will enhance it.

"This is a pilot implementation that is a precursor to other offerings like the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program in fifth grade and to robotics program in high school. It gives kids an opportunity to better understand science," he said.

Burr also said students will also have to pay less to participate in sports this upcoming school year. The board of education lowered fees 25 percent, he said.

OXFORD

Students in Oxford will also be paying to participate for the first time this school year, according to Interim Superintendent James Connelly.

"There will be a $75 per person activity fee, with a $150 cap per person and $300 cap per family," he said, adding the charge also applies to members of the band and drama club.

The new "Pay to Play" policy, which only applies to high school students, was adopted by the district due to budget cuts, he said.

He said the school system didn't want this to come as a surprise to parents and information was recently sent out by Frank Savo, the high school principal, as a reminder.

Connelly said he also plans to start updating some of the school system's policies and procedures this year, in particular those that apply to social media.

Connelly took over as interim superintendent on Aug. 4, replacing Edward Malvey, who resigned in May after only five months on the job, citing personal reasons. But he also served in the interim position following Superintendent Judith Palmer's departure in August 2010, when her contract was voided by the board. He remained in that spot until Malvey was hired in January.